Audi A6 Saloon Review

Audi A6 Saloon

Overall Verdict

The Audi A6 Saloon is an excellent executive car. It’s pretty similar to the Audi A8 Saloon, but at a much cheaper price point. The tech inside is incredible, with up to 3 touch screens available on the Audi MMI infotainment system when you include the excellent Virtual Cockpit, which makes using sat-nav a breeze. 

The cabin is clearly very premium, and it’s much like being in a luxury hotel. It's definitely a strong competitor to the similarly designed Mercedes Benz E-Class Estate. 

The A6 drives well. It has excellent suspension, so long drives are pretty comfortable. Audi's four-wheel-drive quattro system is excellent, and greatly increases the power available in the A6 - when you get used to it, it's hard to go back to a front-wheel drive. Both the turbo petrol and diesel engines on the A6 are excellent.

It's not all good though - the handling isn't the best, and shows that the A6 Saloon isn’t really a sporty car. To be fair, that’s not necessarily a negative as the A6 is intended to be an executive saloon after all, not a sports car - but it may put some drivers off. For those seeking a sporty experience, the BMW 5 Series Touring or the Mercedes E-Class might be a better fit. 

In terms of practicality the A6 scores well. The saloon obviously isn't as practical as the Audi A6 Avant estate, but it still has a decent amount of boot space (530 litres), and there's plenty of headroom and legroom, so rear passengers will be comfy in the back. Even with all engines containing mild hybrid technology, running costs are still quite high, due to a fairly average fuel economy and high insurance groups. The A6 is a safe car, with a 5 star Euro NCAP rating.

Available Trims

Sport

The base trim, the Sport, offers enough tech for most people. It comes with LED headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, a triple-screen infotainment system, dual-zone climate control, a reversing camera, and much more.

S Line

Even sportier than the Sport (go figure), the S Line comes with 19-inch alloy wheels, Matrix LED Headlights, and a lower suspension. The interior also gets an upgrade, with the inclusion of aluminum and stainless steel pedals and sportier seats. One particularly fancy feature is the memory function which remembers the driver's heating and lumber adjustment preferences.

Black Edition

For those that prefer an all-dark look over splatters of chrome, the Black Edition should be the trim of choice. With many of the same features as the S line, the Black Edition comes with bigger 20-inch alloy wheels, privacy glass, a BOSE sound system, and black details on the bodywork and grille.

Vorsprung

The cream of the crop, the Vorsprung is the ultimate Audi A6 experience. The Vorsprung comes with a panoramic sunroof, 21-inch alloy wheels, and adaptive air suspension. It also comes equipped with Audi's technology pack, which offers an upgraded infotainment system, and includes wireless charging for your phone.

Read on for more information in our detailed review of the driving experience, practicality and interior or head over to our Audi A6 Saloon lease deals page to see how much you can save on your next lease car.

Exterior

The Audi A6 Saloon is a great looking car. It looks exactly like what you'd expect from an executive car - posh, luxurious, and comfortable. While the A6 is all of these things, it also has a bit of a sporty styling to it. With sportier trims, like the S line, the body style becomes more aggressive and road-ready. Even if it doesn’t perform like a sporty car, it’s a nice change from the traditional saloon style, as demonstrated in the bulkier and (arguably) boring Jaguar XF Estate.

Driving Experience

The entry level option is the 40 TDI Sport 4dr S Tronic, which has a healthy BHP of 204 and achieves 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds. With such a solid performance, it’ll be a surprise to find out that this car nets you 62.8 mpg! You can't go wrong with this option.

A popular mid-range option is the 40 TDI quattro Sport 4dr S Tronic. With an ultra-efficient diesel engine, this car has an mpg of 64.2 while still going 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds. Not bad at all. 

If you’re after the highest performance possible, you need the S6 TDI 349 quattro, which reaches 0-62mph in an astonishing 5 seconds flat - albeit, that's no surprise with a bhp of 349. While ultra-powerful, this option isn't too bad on the efficiency side either, with 45.6 miles to the gallon. 

All Audi A6 models are available with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and as an eight-speed tiptronic automatic gearbox.

Driving Position

The A6 is all about being comfortable. No matter how tall or awkwardly proportioned you are, you’ll find a great driving position in the A6 Saloon. The steering wheel is highly adjustable, and the seat offers excellent support so you’ll be comfortable even on long motorway journeys. 

Handling

The A6 Saloon handles well, but describing it as “fun” is a bit of a stretch. It’s grippy and comfortable around corners, but it’s certainly not sporty.

Suspension

While the standard suspension is great, the optional (and more expensive) air suspension system is phenomenal. It soaks up every bump in the road and makes driving down the motorway an almost relaxing experience.

Audi A6 Saloon Interior

As with all Audi models, the interior of the Audi A6 Saloon is truly excellent.

Styling

Similar to the much more expensive A8 Saloon, the A6 has many of the same high-quality materials inside. All the soft-touch plastics feel luxurious and high end, and the 3-screen infotainment system is eye-catching yet simple to use. While you’re sitting in the Audi A6, you’ll find yourself taking the long way home.

Tech

The entry level trim comes with two infotainment screens. The top screen is 9 inches (or 10 inches if you upgrade) and the bottom is also 9 inches (across the board). The upper display is home to the excellent Audi MMI system and controls sat-nav and smartphone mirroring

The lower screen is for controlling your car - air conditioning settings, and so on. Anything that used to have a button, you can find here. The menus on the MMI are vibrant and it’s user-friendly.

The optional - and highly recommended third screen is the Audi Virtual Cockpit, which overlays where traditional rev counters and dials should be. This is a must-have, as it makes following sat-nav directions an absolute breeze. All in all, the tech offerings inside the A6 are phenomenal.

Practicality

The A6 Saloon is never going to be as practical as the estate version - but it does a good job thanks to its body style. The boot is of a decent size, and there’s plenty of front and rear passenger space.

Dimensions

4,939-4,954 mm L x 1,886 mm W x 1,446-1,457 mm H

The A6 Saloon is a big car, but it makes smart use of its space. It’s not overly bulky, and doesn’t feel awkward to drive down tight city streets.

Boot Size

There’s plenty of boot space, with 530 litres available. This should be more than enough for most people. That’s around 4 large suitcases, or a big family shop. 

There’s also plenty of additional storage dotted around the cabin - the four doorbins are of a decent size, and there’s cupholders in the front (on all models) and in the back (optional).

Passenger Room

There's plenty of headroom in the front seats. These seats come with more than enough adjustability, so no matter your height, you're guaranteed to find a comfortable seating position. It’s much the same story in the back. There’s generous headroom, even for passengers hovering around 6ft. 

Legroom is equally good. The front cabin is plenty spacious to stretch out your legs, and the rear seats have enough space for tall passengers, so you shouldn’t have any complaints. 

Audi A6 Saloon Rear Seats

Safety Features

The Audi A6 Saloon has a 5 star Euro NCAP rating. There’s also plenty of standard safety features, like 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes with brake assist, Audi’s “pre-sense collision warning”, as well as eight airbags.

Running Costs

The Audi A6 Saloon has okay running costs, but ultimately, it’s not a cheap car. The mpg is pretty good for such a large car, but the insurance costs are very expensive. The new Audi A6 Saloon engines all feature Audi’s 48V mild-hybrid (MHEV), which gives the car a lot of power without sacrificing too much fuel economy. 

MPG

The fuel economy on the Audi A6 Saloon is decent. For the most efficient car, you’ll want the  2.0-litre diesel 40 TDI, which delivers a respectable 55 mpg. If you want something with a little more power, you’ll sacrifice some fuel economy. For instance, the high performing 3.0-litre V6 50 TDI model nets 44 mpg.

Quattro models (Audi’s four-wheel-drive system) have a significantly lower mpg than front-wheel drive options. In terms of the automatic gearbox, the eight-speed transmission is very fuel efficient and is smooth to use. There’s also a cheaper, seven-speed dual clutch auto transmission available.

CO2 Emissions

For the cleanest engine, you want the entry-level 40 TDI Sport, which has emissions of 117-118g/km (or 119g/km with the quattro version). Performance models have higher CO2 emissions - for instance, the V6-powered 50 TDI has emissions of 145-146g/km.

Insurance Group

Insurance costs will be high for the A6 Saloon - not surprising considering the large engines. For the cheaper models, you can expect an insurance group of around 30. For the high-end performance options, you could end up with an insurance group of 46.

Reliability

The reliability index score for the Audi A6 Saloon isn’t great, with average repair costs coming in at a steep £541.75. Audi reliability in general is nothing to shout home about. It’s worth remembering that the high repair cost is in part due to Audi parts being at a premium, and not necessarily because the car is likely to fail. That being said, there is a lot of tech on the A6 - so there’s a lot that could go wrong! 

Warranty

The Audi warranty lasts 3yrs/60,000 miles. With brands like Kia offering huge 7 year warranties, this is nothing special. Audi’s fellow German rivals BMW also offer a better warranty - offering 3 years with no mileage limit. It’s better, however, than Mercedes 2 year/50,000 mile warranty.

Servicing

For those who drive short distances and in town a lot, Audi recommends a fixed service schedule - every 9,000 miles or 1 year. If you’re typically driving long distances on the motorway, they recommend flexible - up to 19,000 miles or every 2 years. 

When you buy a new car from Audi, you can opt in to the ‘Audi Complete Plan’. This lets you pay monthly instalments for 3 types of scheduled maintenance.

The 3 types are: 

• Service - all services for the first 3 years.

• Service and maintenance - same as above but with engine, suspension, gearbox, and brake components cover. You also get three years breakdown cover added in!

• Service, maintenance, tyres - All of the above but covers any issues with tyres, including replacement as needed (fair wear and tear applies).